Fritz Cremer was a German sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the DDR art and cultural politics.
His most notable for being the creator of the "Revolt of the Prisoners" (Revolte der Gefangenen) memorial sculptor at the former concentration camp of
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...
.
Life
Cremer was the son of the upholsterer and decorator Albert Cremer. One year after his father's death, his mother Christine Cremer moved to Rellinghausen with her children Fritz and Emmy in 1908. In 1911, the mother moved to
Essen, where she married a teacher in her second marriage. After his mother died in 1922, Cremer lived with a miner's family.
In 1929, the Austrian expressive dancer
Hanna Berger met Cremer
and became his partner. In the autumn 1942, Berger was arrested by the Gestapo as a fellow campaigner in
Kurt Schumacher
Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the Wes ...
's resistance group. In 1944, Berger was able to escape from prison when she was being transferred to
Ravensbrück concentration camp during a bombing.
She lived illegally in
Styria until the end of the war.
In 1953, Cremer married Christa von Carnap (1921-2010), a painter and ceramist who had divorced shortly before. She was the daughter of Alfred von Carnap (1894-1965), a merchant from the
Wilmersdorf
Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform.
History
The v ...
area of Berlin, and his first wife Susanne Schindler. Christa von Carnap was married in her first marriage to the Schöneberg sculptor
Waldemar Grzimek
Waldemar Grzimek (December 5, 1918 – May 26, 1984) was a German sculptor.
Grzimek was born in Rastenburg, East Prussia (now Kętrzyn, Warmia-Masuria) to a Silesian family, which moved to Berlin in 1925 when Grzimek's father Günther Grzim ...
.
Career
Cremer trained as a stone sculptor under Christian Meisen in Essen from 1921 to 1925 after finishing grammar school. During his subsequent work as a journeyman stonemason, he executed some sculptures based on models by Will Lammert and attended sculpture courses at the Folkwang School in Essen during this time. In 1929, as a committed communist, he decided to join the
Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He took up studies at the "United State Schools for Fine and Applied Art", (Vereinigte Staatsschulen für Freie und Angewandte Kunst) in
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
with
Wilhelm Gerstel (1879-1963), whose master student he became from 1934 to 1938.
During this time Cremer shared a studio with Kurt Schumacher and produced his first socially critical etchings. In 1934 he travelled to Paris. During a trip to London in 1937, Cremer met the writer and playwright
Bertolt Brecht, the composer
Hans Eisler
Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
and the actor
Helene Weigel
Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was a German actress and artistic director. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht and was married to him from 1930 until his death in 1956. Together they had two children.
Personal life
Weigel was bo ...
there, who advised him to continue working in Germany. Twice he was a guest of the
Villa Massimo
Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo.
The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...
in Rome. The first time was in 1937-1938 where he was awarded a fellowship to study for the year, after winning a prize at the "Preußischen Staatspreis für Bildhauerei" (Prussian State Prize for Sculpture). The second time in 1942-43. At the
Prussian Academy of Arts
The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...
, Cremer now ran a master studio himself. He was in close contact with the
Red Orchestra resistance group around the sculptor Kurt Schumacher and the writer
Walter Küchenmeister. Cremer was linked to a resistance group associated with the actor
Wilhelm Schürmann-Horster via Hanna Berger.
His communist past, possibly not particularly spectacular in terms of political action, seems not to have been taken into account by the Nazi regime; but this is by no means a singular case since talents of all kinds were sought after and employed in the culture industries as long as they kept quiet about their former political options.
From 1940 to 1944, he served in the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
as an anti-aircraft soldier in
Eleusis and on the island of
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, after which Cremer became a prisoner of war in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. While he was a soldier would spend any extended leave in Rome where the German Academy had been taken over by the German army. In October 1946, vouched for by his party comrades, he was awarded a professorship and the chair of sculpture department of the
Academy for Applied Art in Vienna.
Visual representation in the arts
*
Sabine Grzimek: Portrait of Fritz Cremer (Bronze sculptor, 1982).
*
Dieter Goltzsche: Portrait Fritz Cremer (
lithograph, 47.7 × 34.5 cm, 1969)
* : Portrait Fritz Cremer (oil, 100 × 72 cm, 1963)
Memorial designs
During his time in Austria, Cremer designed two memorials for the victims of fascism, a small one for the French prisoners at
Mauthausen
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regu ...
near Linz in Austria and a very important and controversial one at the
Vienna Central Cemetery
The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...
, the
Memorial for the victims of a free Austria 1934–1945. Controversy was sparked off by the memorial's dedication to the victims of Fascism as from 1934, the year that an authoritarian regime accepted by the Catholic Church took power in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. The memorial represented a naked bronze figure of a resistance fighter, which was considered controversial.
Theodor Innitzer
Theodor Innitzer (25 December 1875 – 9 October 1955) was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Early life
Innitzer was born in Neugeschrei (Nové Zvolání), part of the town Weipert (Vejprty) in Bohemia, at that time ...
, the
Archbishop of Vienna
The Archbishop of Vienna is the prelate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna who is concurrently the metropolitan bishop of its ecclesiastical province which includes the dioceses of Eisenstadt, Linz and St. Pölten.
From 1469 to 1513, bi ...
wanted a fig leave placed on the sculptor, which Cremer did not accept.
In 1950, Cremer had moved to the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
and took over the master class at the Academy of the Arts,
later serving as vice-president from 1974 to 1983.
His most important work by far during his earlier life in the GDR is his 1958 bronze sculpture "Revolt of the Prisoners" (Revolte der Gefangenen); set in front of a bell tower, high up in the hills above
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, the grouping of 11 figures, some gesturing triumphantly, forms the focal point of a memorial at the site of the former concentration camp of
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...
.
A further memorial at
Mauthausen
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regu ...
was commissioned in 1961 from Cremer by the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
's Association of Victims of Fascism and completed in 1965-1955. This memorial known as "O Deutschland, bleiche Mutter" in bronze dominates a pivotal area of the former concentration camp, the access road to the stone quarries where most of the camp's victims died.
In Fritz Cremer's work, the acts and lovers form the thematic counterpart to the political commissioned works, and also served to calm down and retreat into the private. In them, “her true features and erotic sensuality unite,” “close together, tenderness and fulfilment.”
Stylistically, it cannot be assigned to modernity or to socialist realism. The aim of Cremer's artistic efforts was to make the “mentalic constitution” of the presented. For this reason, Cremer breaks with the idealising representation of the body, while stressing its irregularities.
Overview of creations
Sculpture and busts
* 1936: Relief Trauernde Frauen (Gestapo)
* 1936–1937: Bust self-portrait as dying warrior, (Büste Selbstbildnis als sterbender Krieger)
* 1939: Figurengruppe Mütter
* 1947: Freedom Fighter (Freiheitskämpfer)
* 1946–1948:
Memorial to the Victims of Fascism 1934-1945, Vienna (Mahnmal für die Opfer des Faschismus 1934–1945, Wien)
* 1949: Memorial stone for the Ebensee concentration camp (Gedenkstein für das KZ Ebensee)
* 1950–1953: Memorial to the Nazi Victims Knittelfeld (Denkmal für die NS-Opfer Knittelfeld) (Österreich)
* 1950: 1950: Large Eva nude figure (Aktfigur Große Eva)
* 1951: Seated Figure Mother Earth for the Mourning Hall of the Baumschulenweg Crematorium (Sitzende Figur Mutter Erde für die Trauerhalle des Krematoriums Baumschulenweg) (Berlin)
* 1951–1952: Sculptural design for the Marx-Engels Monument (plastischer Entwurf zum Marx-Engels-Denkmal), Berlin (nicht ausgeführt)
* 1952–1958: Group of figures for the Buchenwald Monument (Figurengruppe für das Buchenwalddenkmal)
* 1958: Aufbauhelferin und Aufbauhelfer in einer Grünanlage östlich vom Roten Rathaus
* 1959: Schwimmerin.
* 1960–1967: Memorial to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp "O Germany, Pale Mother (Denkmal für das KZ Mauthausen, "O Deutschland, bleiche Mutter")
* 1958–1965: Group of figures for the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Memorial Site (Figurengruppe für die Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück)
* 1964: Bronze Bust Hans Eisler (Bronzebüste Hans Eisler)
* 1964–1965: Ascending, park of the UN headquarters, New York (Aufsteigender – den um ihre Freiheit kämpfenden Völkern gewidmet; Park des UNO-Hauptquartiers, New York (weitere Güsse dieser Plastik stehen vor der Kunsthalle Rostock und im Skulpturenpark Magdeburg)
* 1967–1968: Spanienkämpfer – Denkmal für die deutschen Interbrigadisten in Berlin-Friedrichshain
* 1967–1968: Ascending III (Aufsteigender III)
* 1968: Karl Marx Monument (Karl-Marx-Denkmal) (Frankfurt)
* 1969–1972: Galileo Galilei „Und sie bewegt sich doch!“ (Stadthalle Chemnitz)
* 1972: Great Lovers (Großes Liebespaar)
* 1972: Entwurf zum Denkmal 50 Jahre Oktoberrevolution
* 1978: Auferstehender I
* 1979: The Swimmer (Die Schwimmerin)
* 1982–1985: Auferstehender II
* 1984: Freiheitskämpfer (Skulptur) in Bremen
* 1986–1989: Denkmal für Bertolt Brecht, Berlin, Bertolt-Brecht-Platz
* 1988: Karl-Marx, Neuhardenberg, Dorfanger
* 1991: Karl-Marx
File:Freiheitskämpfer - Bremen - Fritz Cremer.jpg, Freedom Fighters, replica of the sculpture from 1947, which has stood in Bremen near the Ostertorwache since 1984 and is dedicated to Cremer's executed friends from the Berlin Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle").
File:Buchenwald Memorial.JPG, The Buchenwald memorial (1952-1958)
File:Rostock Kunsthalle1.jpg, Ascending 1966-1967
File:Cremer Mahnmal Wien.jpg, First day cover Vienna Memorial, 1975
File:Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1978, MiNr 2356.jpg, Mauthausen Memorial and Memorial Site stamp, September 1978
Drawings and lithographs
* 1956: Never again, (Nie wieder)
* 1956: Mappe Walpursgisnacht (36 Blätter)
* 1962: Selbstbildnis
* 1963: Kreidekreis
* 1966: Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters (zu Brechts Gedicht)
* 1979: "Genug gekreuzigt!"
* 1986: Mappe Mutter Coppi und die Anderen, Alle!
* 1988: Fritz Cremer Lithographien 1955–88
Book illustrations
*
*
Exhibitions
The following exhibitions were held by Cremer:
* Karl Eulenstein, oil paintings, Fritz Cremer, sculpture: Galerie Karl Buchholz: 42nd exhibition from 18 Nov. to 9 Dec. 1939.
* 1951: Berlin, collective exhibition at the Academy of Arts
* 1956: Berlin, collective exhibition for the 50th birthday in the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
* 1959: Cairo and Alexandria, collective exhibitions
* 1960: Schwerin, Greifswald, Stralsund, Demmin, Eisenach, Magdeburg
* 1966: Budapest, Halle and Berlin
* 1967: Copenhagen, Erfurt and Rostock
* 1968: Berlin
* 1970: Oslo, Copenhagen and Bonn
* 1973: Budapest
* 1976: Warsaw
* 1976: Berlin,
Altes Museum
The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it i ...
* 1977: Sofia and Moscow
* 1977: documenta 6, Kassel
* 1980: Duisburg,
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum
* 1982: Bremen
* 1984: Berlin,
Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Clas ...
* 1987: Stockholm
* 1991: Arnsberg, Sauerland Museum
* 1996: Arnsberg
* 2000: Oberhausen Castle
* 2007: Arnsberg
* 2009: Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, Schwind Gallery
* 2010: Dresden, Beyer Gallery
* 2011: Frankfurt am Main, Schwind Gallery
Awards and honors
Awards
* 1953:
National Prize II Class for the bust of the miner and National Prize winner
* 1958: National Prize I. Class for the Buchenwald Memorial
* 1961: Art Prize of the FDGB for the portrait bust of Bert Brecht
* 1965:
Fatherland Order of Merit in Gold
* 1972: Goethe Prize of the City of Berlin
* 1972: National Prize I. Class for the Complete Works
* 1974:
Order of Karl Marx
The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks.
The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of Karl Marx's 135th ...
* 1976:
Hero of Labour
The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...
* 1978:
Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary
* 1981: Bremen Sculpture Prize
* 1981: Honorary Gold Medal of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
Honours
In 1967 Cremer became an Honorary Member of the
Academy of Arts of the USSR
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...
.
Gallery
File:Cremer Aufbauhelfer.jpg, Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelfer, 1952-1953
File:Cremer Aufbauhelferin.jpg, Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelferin, 1954
File:Cremer, Bronzeskulptur, Johannes R. Becher, 2.jpg, Bronze sculptor Johannes Becher
Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writi ...
, 1960
File:Bertolt Brecht, Skulptur von Fritz Cremer am BE in Berlin.jpg, Bronze sculptor Memorial to Bertold Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
, 1986-1989
File:Tombstone Heinrich Ehmsen.jpg, Gravestone of Heinrich Ehmsen
File:Skulptur Spandauer Damm 130 (Westend) Grosse Eva&Fritz Cremer&1950.jpg, Bronze sculptor, Große Eva, 1950
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-D0415-0016-004, Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück, Plastik.jpg, Müttergruppe Ravensbrück, 1965
File:Fritz Cremer Bleiche Mutter.jpg, Bronze sculpture, O Deutschland bleiche Mutter, 1965-1966
File:Cremer Trauernde.jpg, Die Trauernde, 1947-1948
File:Fritz Cremer Spanien 1.jpg, Denkmal für deutsche Spanienkämpfer, 1967-1968
References
External links
Figures Sculptors of the 20th Century(German/English mix)Photo exhibition in the argus fotokunst art gallery (on the occasion of 100. anniversary)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cremer, Fritz
1906 births
1993 deaths
People from Arnsberg
People from the Province of Westphalia
Communist Party of Germany politicians
Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians
Red Orchestra (espionage)
German Army personnel of World War II
Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit
Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany
20th-century German sculptors
20th-century German male artists
German male sculptors
West German defectors to East Germany